This Love
by Nil1875
Summary: Mac had always loved Stella, since the moment they met. It wasn't his fault that when they met he had been happily married. It hadn't been his fault the Towers fell, taking Claire with them and leaving him broken and alone. Mac/Stella Post S.7 Oneshot K


**Title:** This Love  
**Pairing:** Mac/Stella  
**Setting:** The end of season 7. ;) That's right you heard me. This is a return fic.  
**Song Used:** Not really too much of a tie into the story, but I used some Lyrics from Apocalyptica's new song 'The End of Me'  
**Status: **Oneshot

**Please enjoy!**

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_Who could bear the witness,  
As you slip into oblivion?_

Memories were all he had left of her now.

Mac sat at his desk and started at a framed picture of himself and Stella at the fair on Coney Island. They were both smiling widely and Stella was offering him a roll of pink cotton candy. His eyes spent more time on that photo then they did on the endless sheets of paperwork that crossed his desk.

Mac leaned back in his chair and thought about all the mistakes he had made. He should never have waited so long to tell her that he loved her. If he had just told her when he had realized it, maybe things would be different. It might have done some good and not just been hollow words.

He had taken her for granted and he had paid the price for it. Her office was still empty because he couldn't bring himself to hire anyone in her place. The entire lab was empty without her and the rooms seemed too large without her presence. He glanced at the clock and saw it was well past midnight and he sighed.

He knew he'd made a huge mistake but he didn't know how to live with the consequences.

_Everything I gave is wasted, I'm the one who suffocated,  
This love, this love is gonna be the end of me._

Mac had always loved Stella, since the moment they met. It wasn't his fault that when they met he had been happily married. It hadn't been his fault that the Towers fell, taking Claire with them and leaving him broken and alone.

It was his fault that he never realized just how much Stella was there for him. She was there with him through everything, through the grief of losing Claire, through him working up the courage to start dating again and through the heartbreaks when none of them were really right for him. She saved his life more times than he could count, in so many ways, both on the job and off.

People around the lab were starting to notice how depressed he was getting but she wasn't there to pull him out of it. Mac sighed. They had almost all tired already, one way or another, to talk him around and make him feel better, or realize how stupid he was. Either seemed fine with them. Only Flack was left and Mac had a feeling the younger man would be snapping any day and marching into his office to yell at him.

_Just trapped inside the wreckage.  
Can't chase away your ghost, inside it only grows._

Sure enough the next evening as Mac sat at his desk, again long past midnight, Flack came storming in to his office. For a long time he just stood there and glared until Mac gave up and stood up. He donned his coat and left the building with Flack in tow.

"You're an idiot," Don told him.

"I know."

Flack trailed him all the way to his apartment and left smiling. He knew what was waiting on the other side of the door, even if Mac didn't yet.

_Nothing left but misery,  
This will be the end of me._

Mac heard music playing as he opened the door to his apartment. There was a fire burning in the small grate in the living room and a bottle of wine with two glasses set on the coffee table.

Mac stood frozen, his heart clenched in fear, joy and anticipation. It couldn't possibly be her. Why would she come back? Why would she ever forgive him for being such a fool?

_This love, this love is gonna be the end of me._

"Stella?" he called softly.

He slowly entered the kitchen and he caught a whiff of perfume. Her perfume. He would know that scent anywhere and his heart quickened.

There she was, standing in front of the sink staring out at the moon. She wore jeans and one of his blue dress shirts, a shade he knew would contrast her green eyes and olive skin perfectly. She had the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and her curly hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had been washing his dirty dishes, which was almost every one he owned. And she was cooking.

Mac lay down his coat and gun on the counter and stepped forward a little.

"Stella?"

He saw a smile quirk at her mouth but she kept staring at the moon.

"I'm sorry," Mac said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have told you years ago…Stella I love you and I was an idiot not to realize it sooner. You're the most wonderful person I've ever know, you've saved my life so many times I don't know how I could ever repay you. You shouldn't even be here because there's no way I deserve to have you here in my apartment. I never realized just how much of my life I took for granted until my life was gone."

Now Stella laughed softly. "I'd hoped you might say that. That you loved me. I couldn't take it Mac. It was too much to be around you all the time, every day. Every day and you never saw me. You never saw how much I wanted you, how much I cared for you and how much I loved you. You were my life too, Mac." She sighed. "I wasn't going to come back you know. I was going to stay in Virginia. Then Flack called. He told me how sad you were. He said you stopped eating completely."

_Your rescue, my undo,  
I'm not the one to save you._

Mac sat down on one of the kitchen stools and buried his face in his hands. "Virginia. You've been so close this whole time?"

Stella nodded. "Mac why did you stop eating? I'm not worth that." She finally turned and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh Stella, you're worth that and so much more. I would kill for you and I would die for you. I love you, Stella."

Stella smiled and crossed the distance between them. Mac opened his arms tentatively and she stepped into them, leaning against his chest. He couldn't believe this was real, that she was back.

"I hope you know this means I'll be staying here and cooking until you look like you again. You're too thin Mac," she said softly.

"Stella as far as I'm concerned you and stay here until the end of time if you want."

He smiled down at her and when she moved a little closer he leaned in and kissed her softly. "I love you," he whispered.

He held her close and swore he would never let her go again.

_This love will be the end of me, this love will be the end.

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